Forsaken
by yf-Limbo
Summary: She had reached the end. No white lights. No angelic chorus. Just crushing darkness pushing her towards the inescapable ending she knew was waiting for her.
1. Prologue

**Well, this is my first story, so i would love to hear any comments! As of now, i am pretty open as to the direction of the story, so if you have any suggestions, please let me know. **

**Story-wide Disclaimer: I do not, nor ever will, own Naruto.  
**

It was for only a moment that she was able to collect her shattered perception on reality. No sooner did it take for the truth to set in for a short flurry of emotions to invade her mind, each as indistinguishable from the next. She_ was_, however, able to pick out a few distinct emotions before slipping into an unwilling subconscious state; fear, shame, panic, self-pity, failure. She was fighting a losing battle. Every moment she traveled further and further away from actuality, reluctantly being confined to a subliminal understanding of her surroundings.

Time stopped. Pain dulled. Moments blended seamlessly together. Thinking power was reduced to an all-time low.

Strings tied tightly. Very tightly. _Ouch._

A limp body being thrown unceremoniously upon solid ground. Very solid indeed. _Ouch._

Internal pleas to cling to life. She was getting desperate. Negotiation, self-justifications.

Reality? Out of grasp. Death? Out of the question.


	2. Chapter 1

Her senses returned to her in slow progression.

_Smell._ Though it was undoubtedly musty and had a certain pungent aroma to it, the far off sent of decay was still detectable.

_Taste. _Clotted, dried blood had found its way into her mouth. The bitter taste of iron was mixed in with collective dirt and dust and left her with a dry, harsh feeling in her mouth.

_Touch. _It was unusually damp, cold and clammy. The coarse, solid ground held traces of moisture within its creases, and was icy to the touch. Her body ached, lying upon such a ground, with sharp pains shooting throughout her worn frame.

_Hearing._ Unplaced echoes, inhuman wails, and distraught pleas plagued her ears.

Mustering up all of her remaining strength, Hinata Hyuuga wearily propped herself into a sitting position.

_Sight._ Lavender-tinted eyes opened slowly despite her body's protesting. It took a few collective moments before her surroundings could be registered. Her cell was completely obscured by darkness albeit a small flickering candle that illuminated the furthest corner of her chamber and produced long casting shadows upon everything else in the room. She could make out the outline of a filthy mattress pushed against the far back wall opposite the candle and of a bucket kicked on its side near the front of the cell.

Hinata rose slowly onto unstable footing only to fall back down again with an involuntary gasp of pain. Instead she crawled slowly towards the mattress and settled herself upon it. The Hyuuga brought a worn and bruised hand up and examined it. It was covered in dried blood, and her jacket sleeve was soaked in crimson. Her once well groomed long indigo locks were now matted with blood in jagged, uneven lengths.

Before she could stop herself a steady stream of tears cascaded along her forlorn face. She felt shame for ending up a prisoner. She felt pity to those she had let down. Overall, however, she felt the all too familiar stings of failure return to her conscience.

Memories, jagged and fragmented, surfaced back to her as she recalled the events of her past.

"_Hinata!" Tsunade barked while looking up from her enormous stacks of paper work. _

"_You mission is to deliver this scroll to the daimyo of the Land of Woods. Now, this is a B ranked mission, so be on guard at all times, though I don't expect too much trouble. I want you packed and ready to depart in 3 hours. You should arrive at your destination in approximately 5 days, so don't dawdle! Got it?"_

"_Yes ma'am" was the reply of the kunoichi. _

_The journey there was very uneventful, but Hinata enjoyed the peace and quiet all the same._

_It was the journey home however, that led to the position she was in now._

_It was about 2 days into the journey when she was ambushed. As she was walking a single kunai drove its way into the trunk of a tree, barely skimming her cheek in the process. She reacted immediately by activating her Byakugan, and letting chakra course through her body._

_She counted 8 attackers, all of which had completely surrounded her. 2 to the left , 1 to the right, 3 edging closer from behind, and 2 hidden amongst the canopy of trees overhead._

_She instantly extracted several kunai from her pouch, managing to bury one deep in the chest of one amongst the tree while missing the other by mere inches. This, however, signaled the start of the battle. _

"_7 on 1" she thought bitterly "how fair"_

_The 2 ninja originally to her left emerged first. One was massively built with large, bulging muscles. His partner was closer to her in height yet looked like he had immense speed and agility. _

_Hinata leaped forward towards the pair and struck the smallest one first, as he seemed a larger threat at the moment. She sent sharp streams of chakra to each palm and began to disable his Tenketsu. With his chakra completely drained, the foreign ninja fell to the ground as dead weight. The larger ninja stepped forward towards the young kunoichi and gripped her from the neck, dangling her several feet above the ground. _

_Seizing the opportunity, Hinata sent her own chakra throughout the man's outstretched arm, rendering it useless. She was immediately dropped to the ground as the ninja's arm slackened. She aimed a low sideways kick while on the ground, only for it to be dodged easily. _

_The 4 previously hidden ninja suddenly presented themselves suddenly in an onslaught of weaponry. Using her Kekkei Genkai she managed to dodge all oncoming kunai and shuriken, or so she thought. A thrown kunai crossed directly with her blind spot, managing to become lodged in her shoulder. Gasping with pain, she clutched her shoulder and ripped out the weapon. Crimson spread fast and steady from the wound. She tucked away the oncoming dizziness to focus on her battle._

_Three of the ninja leaped forward to engage her in taijutsu combat while the other three hung back and began rapidly forming hand signs. She went on the defense, easily blocking all of the oncoming attacks. Her first priority was to stop the three ninjas who had retreated to form what appeared to be a synchronized jutsu; however, the three attacking ninja prevented her from thwarting the jutsu. _

_Overwhelmed was an understatement. She wanted to give up. Embrace failure in a twisted attempt to bypass oncoming shame. As she was ready to give in, a dazzling smile and bright blue eyes plagued her thoughts. _

"_I mustn't give up. I will never back down, for that is my nindo." _

_With new found vigor she plunged herself into the battle. Reforming the Juuken stance, Hinata began forcing her chakra into her closest victim. The ninja, surprised by her newfound energy, was ultimately unable to stop her oncoming attack, and fell over in a lifeless faint. She engaged the remaining two in simultaneously. She managed to land a blow to the lungs of one of her opponents, effectively shutting down his entire respiratory system. Her final opponent however had taken this moment to approach her from behind. Hinata felt a warm, tough finger on the back of her neck. The man behind her formed a hand sign with his available hand, which placed a small seal where his calloused fingertip was. Her attacker let out a low chuckle while leaping away from the scene. Hinata realized in horror that she could no longer move, as if she was bound to the ground._

"_Chakra Sealing Confinement Barrier"_

_The three formally idol ninja has successfully cast their jutsu over the kunoichi. A hazy, white triangle encompassed Hinata, with a ninja standing at each corner. The sudden loss of chakra forced her shakily to her knees. The outer walls of the barrier progressively turned darker as more and more of her chakra left her body. In her final moments, Hinata looked up to the sky, wondering if she'd be missed, before her unconscious body fell with a lifeless thud._


	3. Chapter 2

Standing up wearily, the heiress slowly made her way over the the edge of her cave. Placing one hand at the top of the large, rusted pole, she slowly ran it down the entire length, feeling the jagged, rusty edges gnaw away at her palms.

Wiping away the cold sweat at her brow, she nervously traced the back her neck for the seal she vaguely remembered being burned upon her flesh. The skin at the base of her neck, directly over her Byakugan's blind spot was sore and irritated.

She knew it wasn't that easy, but still, she formed the appropriate hand signs and muttered a weak

"Byakugan"

Almost immediately, she found the support leave her legs as her body crumpled to the ground. Searing pain, spreading from the seal, circulated to every part of her body.

The pain, however, vanished almost as suddenly as it had arrived.

_Well, molding chakra wasn't such a good idea_

Hinata rose once again and peered out the bars confining her. Although visibility was almost zero outside of her enclave, she was able to make out seemingly endless rows of cell, each as rustic and forbidding as the next.

Sighing as she collected herself upon the beaten mattress, Hinata rested her head and stared at the ceiling, vaguely remembering the seal on her neck as she drifted into unconsciousness once again.

Time was hard to grasp. What exactly was it? Had it been days? Weeks? Maybe even months. All she knew was that time was moving, indifferent to her. She had been frozen. Monotony tuned out the changing days. To the point where she knew time passed ,maybe in some distant land, but not here.

The only source of excitement was her only means of survival. She had to salvage what she could, from moss,mold and, if she was lucky, the occasional rodent, as a last ditch effort to cling to her pitiful life. She knew she had a purpose, a reason for being, and to die in this hell hole definitely wasn't it.

Her life hadn't exactly been an envious one. Second best, to her younger sister. Weak, to her cousin. Overlooked by the only one she had eyes for. Ultimately forgettable. Although her entire life until this point had been to avoid the truth, imprisonment had a way of being out those undeniable facts of life. She was completely and utterly replaceable. Their would always be another teammate, another Hyuuga, another girl who could beat her at her own game.

Of course it would have been conceited to think that her life was miserable, she knew the extent of her suffering. Compared to others, her life had been seemingly pleasant. But, that did not hinder the fact that this was _her_ reality, and therefore only she knew the complete extent of her own suffering. Though it may have deceived others, her pleasant exterior did not mirror her interior. She had put her mask as a duty to others, because someone as insignificant as herself shouldn't be important enough to negatively effect the lives of others. Even if it meant serving as a tool of comparison, she willfully carried out her task with pride, knowing that it may as well be her only purpose.

In all honesty, she had known this from the very beginning, but without others to distract and compare herself to, the conclusion had seemed oddly clear. In fact, this predicament may have been crucial in reaching this answer. With nothing left to do but think and reflect, one couldn't help but divulge deeper into their mind than ever before. She was the weird girl. The shy girl. The weak girl. And, more recently, the missing girl. No tears were shed, of that she was almost certain. Maybe she was over exaggerating, but in no way was her disappearance anything more than the small ripple caused from a small stone thrown in the ocean.

But she knew she was capable of more. It lay waiting for her. Locked behind fogged glass. It was there, and she knew it, but what and how to reach it was still shrouded beneath a veil out of reach. This couldn't be it. She was could be more than this. For too long had she been the tool. Compared to others, yes, she may have seem weak, but to herself, she was all she had. The self-satisfaction of being important and valued that had been deprived of her all her life had suddenly been yearning to break free.

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**Please, comment on anything at all. All feedback is welcome.**


	4. Chapter 3

"No, ma'am. No trace of a body has been found."

"Very well, you are dismissed"

Tsunade sighed while pinching the bridge of her nose. She began aimlessly shifting through papers, as if they held the answers to the upcoming situation.

"Shizune!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Please notify the Hyuuga household, and send note to Hiashi that I request his presence immediately"

"Yes, ma'am"

Tsunade sat sternly behind her desk as Hiashi entered several minutes later.

"You called, Tsunade-sama?"

"Yes...as you know, Hinata left on a confidential mission quite some time ago and has failed to return. She has exceeded the expected arrival date by several weeks. Owing to this, and the fact that we have received no communication from her, we believe that she may have run into some trouble. "

Hiashi stood silent for several moments before replying

"Why was this not brought to my attention sooner?"

"This was a confidential mission! We had to be completely certain of her disappearance before reporting this as an issue. If we had been false in our deductions, our intervention could have jeopardized the outcome of the mission."

Hiashi turned to stare out the window. Tsunade sat and stared at him, and ever increasing scowl present on her features.

"She is unmarked" he replied tersely

"Right, we are calling a search party together as we speak. You will be notified immediately of any progression. You are dismissed"

Hiashi turned and frowned at her before turning and exiting her office.

Tsunade sighed at the slamming door, thinking of the upcoming headache this would present. She muttered darkly before slamming a sake bottle upon her desk.

Boredom had a way of setting in, pushing all of her needs into the farther extreme. Hunger was magnified. Hygiene become unbearable. Cold seemed colder, and hot hotter. Without anything to distract her from her dismal condition, they became her sole focus.

A soft thud broke her thought, causing her to snap her head up in new found interest. A small stone that had not been there before was skidding across the floor of her jail. Picking it was in mild interest, she examined its exterior. The texture was coarse and sharp, much like the floor and walls surrounding her. Crawling over the the bars, Hinata squinted into the darkness in an attempt to find the origins of the stone.

She had never really held much for the chambers beyond her. She just assumed it held rows and rows of similar cages to hers all concealed behind inky darkness. The thought had a morbid negativity to it, so she simply avoided it, instead choosing to focus on the space within her sight.

Pressing her palms to the cold metal of the bars and using that leverage extend herself, she saw the outline of another human behind the bars of a cage across from hers.

The other person has hurried further back into their cage for a moment, before returning again to the bars.

Hinata furrowed her brows in confusion as the figure began fiddling with a small object, but understood as another rock made its way into her cell. This one, however, has a strip of fabric attached to it.

Bringing it closer to her only light source, she cringed as she realized the substance used to write the message smelt and looked eerily like blood.

Stretching the tough fabric between her fingertips, she was able to make out the message "Why are you here?"

After careful consideration, she deemed it worthy, and used a loose pebble to cut open a wound in her arm, supplying her with a fresh source of ink. She slowly wrote out "Where are we?" in reply. She made her way pack over to the bars and launched her answer back to the person across from her. She expectantly waited an answer as her reply landed with a skidding thud on the opposite floor.

Her stomach dropped as a shrill, cackling laugh erupted from the receiving end of her message. It was high and cracked, yet definitely male. The other prisoner jumped upon the bars of his cage and rattled them furiously. A wide, sinister smile shone upon his face as he shook his head rapidly. The piercing laughs turned to a piercing scream and he fell off his bars and began convulsion upon the floor.

Other prisoners began to groan and yell, throwing the entire prison into chaos.

Hinata backed up slowly, crouching in the corner of her cell. Though it was slipping, she still had some grasp upon her sanity. She slid down slowly into the corner of her cell, her back trailing along the jagged walls. Bringing her knees up defensively and wrapping her arms around them protectively, Hinata tried to sway herself into comfort. She slapped her hands on her ears, in a last ditch effort to drown out the cried of the desolate beings around her. Their cries of despair were took much for her to handle.

Humming loudly and rocking slightly, Hinata brought her lids to a closer over her eyes, and attempted to tune out those surrounding her.

All at once, the noises around her were silenced. She opened her eyes tentatively and brought her hands from here ears. The clacking of footsteps echoed throughout the chambers. Louder they grew. They held purpose, direction. They knew their job, their duty, and were well above these damn prisoners. The owner of these steps continued on to the cell across from hers. Judging from the height and build, they belonged to a man, and said man had his back turned to her. From the scarce lighting, she was able to grasp the outline of a heavy, dark cloak and part of the long blond hair that hung down his back.

He bent over slightly, peering into the cage of the insane man in the cage across the hall.

The captured man sprung up at the new man's presence and smiled wickedly.

"Why hello there, pretty boy? Come to play a game? Hows about a present?" The captured man stuck his tongue out before falling back to the floor, howling with laughter.

"_He is clearly out of his mind" _Hinata though from her sitting position, now trying to melt into the shadows. The new man terrified her. She tried to sink further into the wall as the caged man continued to shriek with horrifying laughter.

"Che, you disgust me" The free man replied in a deep, masculine tone.

"Huh? Do I scare you?" the caged man replied in a hushed tone

"DO I SCARE YOU?" he shouted, rising to his feet once again.

"You think you can control me? YOU THINK THAT? Well, let me tell you that I can NEVER be controlled. I AM FREEDOM!"

The blond man raised his hand and let something enter the other man's cage. With a triumphant look of pleasure upon his face, he raised a single hand to his lips and whispered  
"Katsu"

And the captured man was no more.

Hinata sat frozen with terror as the blood of her companion splattered across her face and littered the floor of her cell.

She sat still, motionless even as the blond man muttered a disparaging

"Freedom my ass" before sauntering out.

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**Thank you so much for reading, it really means a lot to me. I know this chapter wasn't my strongest, but bear with me. Comments are always appreciated!**


	5. Chapter 4

**Thank you everyone who reviewed and alerted and such... it really means a lot to me. **

**Quick Warning- Sort of graphic in terms of gore. Well, not too bad, but still, just letting you know before hand -just in case :)  
**

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A happy whistle echoed around. Being the only sound to penetrate the eerie silence, the upbeat tune was out of place. A young man cheerily walked along absentmindedly twirling a set of rusted keys around his finger. He had reached a set of stairs carved out of stone similar to the ground itself. It was close to complete darkness, save for a small light emitted from somewhere at the top of the stair case. This, however, was not an issue, as the man had this trekked this climb many times before.

Muttering slightly under his breath as he mumbled about exercise, he began walking up.

Reaching the top, and panting slightly, the man placed his right hand on a seemingly solid wall, despite the various cracks leaking with light. And, by saying a quick phrase under his breath, he was able to pass right through it.

Still whistling, he sat down on a worn out couch and began taking his shoes off. As he was just pulling off his first shoe, another person came into the room from a hall way on the far wall.

"Shut up, Deidara" the male growled without even a glance in said man's direction.

Deidara looked up mid-whistle at the new arrival and smirked.

"Back so soon, Sasori?"

Sasori ignored him and continued the process of releasing himself from Hiruko.

"Anyways" Deidara continued "A few of your men brought in some more prisoners. One of them is from Konoha so we should question her later about the Kyuubi. It would make our job a whole hell of a lot easier that way."

Sasori, now free from Hiruko and fixing his joints, shot Deidara a deadly glare.

"I'll do it" he replied coldly

Deidara recoiled slightly from receiving Sasori's look, but quickly regained his composure.

"What! No way, you'll freak her out. Plus, I saw her first"

"Deidara, you will screw it up. This is a serious opportunity to gain knowledge of and about our target before we actually engage him."

Deidara huffed before shouting " Fine! You can interrogate her, but I'm coming too!" as he stormed out of the room

Eyes wide, lips cracked, and breathing at a standstill, Hinata sat frozen on the ground with her legs hugged closely to her chest.

Blood.

Slowly she raised a small hand and wiped the warm liquid from her chapped lips. Disgust beyond belief mixed with sympathy, grief and pity overtook her. She cupped her face in her hand and cried. She cried for the man who died without a name. She cried for the man who killed in cold blood. She cried for herself.

Sometime later, when no more tears would fall, she righted herself and began building up her courage. Seizing the small light within her cell, Hinata carried it over to the bars and peered into the cell of the dead man.

What she saw shocked her to the point of repulsion.

What was once the man's body had been blown to pieces. Flesh and muscle smeared the walls. Blood, hot and wet, was splattered everywhere. Pieces of bone lodged themselves into cracks in the wall, as well as littering the floor. If she had not been previously aware, it would have been impossible to tell that all of the pieces made up a whole being.

Being a kunoichi, she had seen death, and had even caused death. But, it had come with the duty. To be a ninja was to accept, even embrace death. She could never say she had gotten used to seeing death- the sight of such still made her stomach clench, even on the battle field- but she has just gotten better at ignoring it. She held that unless their existence compromised her own, then it was best to let them live to see another day. An enemy definitely fell into the previous category, but that didn't mean that she felt no remorse when she sent a final blow to an opponent.

Moving to the filthy mattress in the corner, Hinata examined the thin exterior material. Finally finding a small hole, she tugged until a large enough hole to place her hand through had been made. Using the extra space, she ripped a piece of fabric free. The years of filth had caused the fabric to be hard and crinkly, allowing her to fold it so that it retained the shape. Using the available light, Hinata folded the fabric into a small origami crane. Inching her way back over to the cell bars, Hinata looked once again into the man's cell.

A grim sight met her eyes. A pool of blood had formed. Thick and deep red, the pool covered most of the floor of his enclosure. Hinata threw the crane so that it landed right-side up into the pool. She shuttered as the crane began floating innocently across the surface, leaving ripples that make their way to the edges of the pool.

Quickly turning her back to the grisly scene, Hinata bowed her head and said a quick prayer for the soul of the man who once was.

Time was passing, and the disappearance of the Hyuuga girl was becoming more and more noticeable. She was that girl in the background, the one everyone just assumed would always be there.

Team 8 was falling apart, as countless faces filled in for the girl on missions. No one wanted to think she was dead, though it was an uncomfortable lie to think that she wasn't. To be a missing shinobi was almost always a dead shinobi. The citizens, especially the ninja sort, didn't want to dwell on such a fact. No one really wanted to think the poor, shy Hyuuga girl -the one always with something nice to say- was lying in some foreign land as just another body. It was all too morbid to think that such a genuinely nice, caring person could meet such a fate. Of course, no one forgot that she was a ninja, and many nameless fighters had met similar ends.

She was just too inter-connected to it all to just disappear, and frankly, that started to make thing inconvenient.

No one really knew how to handle it.

Most of the Konoha 11, as they were dubbed, had been sent on missions retracing the steps of her journey. But, one quick visit to the daimyo of the Land of Woods confirmed that she had completed her mission- throwing a stake in the whole search and rescue missions. A shinobi's ultimate purpose was to complete their mission. A ninja had no identity, and to outside nations, their was no issue. If the mission was completed, than the shinobi had completed their duty, regardless if the return trip proved as successful. So, Tsunade couldn't exactly keep sending units over to investigate, it would look too suspicious to surrounding nations. The loophole was, however, that she had an unsealed Byakugan. The Hyuuga clan, being one of Konoha's most prestigious, actually had enough power and resources to overrule the smaller nations who may have opposed of such actions.

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**Review...please?**


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